he had 8 of them hanging on a rack to choose from. at a friends shop, that's what he does now...installs LS engines in 60s-70s model cars and trucks. he does about one a week. even did an early 2000 Porsche. he said they make a swap kit for about everything now.
The spark plug deal does suck. Iv pulled cabs myself but haven't had to in a long long time. The phasers are another problem but, since 2011 all the driveline improvements the new 5.0 is a very reliable engine. But,very complex and still very large. In all reality they have a ton of potential but no way would I try to wedge one in a Maverick.
I had a 92 Lincoln w/ a 4.6,great mtr & never had a problem w/ it.However,Rob is right in that they are complex & the timing chain set up on them is also not really the best.That is why a 393 & a 408 are no brainers,easy to work on,make big torque which mod mtrs struggle to do,& they last a long time.They are very reliable,I know 2 racers that got 3 yrs each out of theirs,& these guys race a lot(3 times a mnth),& one of them has a 15 to 1 comp ratio with 3 in mains.Oh,& by the way at the Stick Shift Nationals A MIR he went 8.65 sec at 156mph in a fox.Right now,bar none,if you want a N/A platform,foxes with Windsors are kicking some serious but at the drag strip.I wanted to build one but now they are like Camaros,everybody has one so I am glad I got the Maverick just to be a little different.Right now my favorite Mav is Craig Hedjas with the Ozark Mountain Super Shifters,5.23 in the 1/8 w/ a Liberty & a 434 cleveland,that`s getting the job done!
I'd be looking at selling it for a profit to buy Windsor parts... Yes I've owned several 2v 4.6, other than the POS plastic intake busting on a Grand Marquis(in 49 years of vehicle ownership, it's one of the handful of repairs I paid someone else to do) and another needing valve stem seals (I repl those)they've been good... I wouldn't touch one for performance mainly because of the huge size and stupid $$$$ to get one to run decently... That said I did own a 2003 Marauder with a Eaton added from a '03 Stang Cobra... Nice car, no fun to work on...
There are also economies of scale to consider. What percentage of the modulars on the road are 4 valves? One of the reasons the old 5.0 Windsor stuff took off in the aftermarket was the sheer number of them on the road. The aftermarket is out to make money and to do that in the hot rod market, the parts have to be value priced. That means keeping the unit cost low by means of volume. The 4V is also a pretty good factory engine, much in the same fashion as the 428CJ of old. Chevrolet held to its historical practice of creating a basic platform with the LS and sticking with it, which has created the production numbers that the aftermarket craves.
Interesting read, they made a ton of power but certainly not on a budget I could sustain! I bet their investment would put a significant dent in my mortgage.
'We choose to go to the mod in this decade and do the other things. Not because they are easy, but because they are hard. '
